Diary of an Arcade Employee

atari thumb

Over the past week I’ve scanned in roughly 300 ads from some of my old computer and videogame magazines. I’ll be sharing some of my favorites (and some of the oddest ones) here on the Retroist.

The Bat Mitt, apparently, was a glove designed to make playing videogames more comfortable. “Atari thumb” was a common ailment among kids in the late 70s and early 80s, and I knew more than one kid that developed calluses from playing too many videogames, so I suppose there may have been a market for the Bat Mitt. As a kid, had I seen an advertisement for “a Video Game Glove Comfortable Improving Your Scores!” I’m sure I would have owned one.

According to the ad, Bat Mitts came in left and right handed versions and were available in two colors, yellow and red. They also came in three sizes: small (for ages 10-11), medium (for ages 12-15), and large (ages 16 to adult). I suppose if you had freakishly small or large hands you might have to wing it. Each Bat Mitt cost $2.50 plus an additional 50 cents per item for shipping and handling with a maximum S&H of $3, for six mitts. If you wanted one for every day of the week or for everyone on your little league team, well, lucky you.

I can find no hits for “Bat Mitt” on Google. If anyone had one of these or knows what happened to the Koal Sales company, I’d love to hear from you.